EU member states have agreed within the Council of the European Union on a position on the energy grids package, aimed at accelerating the development and adaptation of infrastructure in line with the needs of the green transition. The legislation was proposed by the European Commission last year, including a revision of the Trans-European Energy Infrastructure (TEN-E) regulation and a permitting directive.
The approval of clean energy and energy infrastructure projects in the EU currently takes between five and ten years.
Energy ministers agreed that permitting procedures need to be accelerated and simplified. One of the measures is the introduction of digital portals for submitting applications and giving priority to electricity and renewable energy projects, which would be treated as projects of overriding public interest unless proven otherwise.
In addition, in order to further speed up the process, member states may provide that the absence of a response from authorities in certain stages of the procedure is considered tacit approval.